0104 The Commercial Hub of the Souss Valley (Mor 015—revisit)

Inezgane Travel Blog

Back in Agadir, I decide to do a couple of side trips around the "Agadir Metropolitan Area" (if you want to call it that) starting with the much-less touristy city of Inezgane...

The day starts out with one of the typical sandstorms that lasts for a couple of days. Now these aren't anything like the sky-blackening sandstorms you get down in Mauritania, but they're a quite irritating nonetheless as you get sand in your eyes and you feel your always covered with a layer of dust.

A lot of memories of Inezgane. I remember being surrounded by a couple of thieves in the scrap market area (their technique: a couple of guys are in front of you to distract you, while another guy goes for your back pocket.

That's Tekiouine in the distance

Fortunately, I was smart enough that time to NOT have anything except my comb in my back pocket... Afterwards, once I'd gotten safely away I looked at them and sneered--and one of them tossed me back my comb...

So Inezgane is where I started to prove that I’m street smart… but I shouldn’t get too cocky now!

I take a clip from a hillside overlooking that market--not exactly a flattering view of Inezgane... and then head towards the river. I remember reaching this spot back in November of 96 where I walked through a narrow alleyway and then suddenly reached the edge of town and a breathtaking view of Ait Melliul, Tekiouine--the whole region--with dozens of mosques dotting the skyline...

This time the view doesn’t seem so breathtaking--maybe it's the weather.

The Scrap Market

.. or maybe it was the realization that it just isn't going to look as cool in a photo...

Continue on to where a group of fellows ask for a song. I agree, for the price of 10 dirhams a song (I didn't actually charge them.) A few minutes later, with kids heading home from school, I start having crowd control problems and have to call the concert off. Teenage and young adult Moroccans don't usually like having a crowd of kids around.

A couple of guys do follow me on to a quieter spot where I play a couple more song and then insist that I come home with them for lunch. They insist that it would be OK with their parents... I insist that they go home and make sure first...

Turns out that their dad is a very strict, religious type--he definitely doesn’t approved of the guitar slung over my shoulder! So that doesn't work out...

"So what does your dad think of your heavy metal t-shirt?" I ask one of the guys.

"Oh, I always cover it up when I go home--he would burn it!"

Looks like we've got a case of generation gap here...

So we wander around--actually headed through the scrap market... I feel a lot more confident this time with my posse of bodyguards.... Have a delicious tagine in the main market and head on...